Living with COVID-19 doesn't mean pretending pandemic is over: WHO chief

STORY: Living with COVID-19 doesn't mean pretending pandemic is over: WHO chief DATELINE: Sept. 4, 2022 LENGTH: 0:01:42 LOCATION: GENEVA, Switzerland CATEGORY: HEALTH SHOTLIST: 1. various of street views of some countries 2. various of the WHO headquarters 3. SOUNDBITE (English): TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WHO Director-General STORYLINE: Despite the severity of constant new waves and soaring number of new cases, some countries have chosen to loosen or even lift COVID-19 restrictions due to gloomy economic outlooks and general fatigue in fighting the virus. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that living with COVID-19 doesn't mean pretending the pandemic is over. SOUNDBITE (English): TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WHO Director-General "With colder weather approaching in the northern hemisphere, it's reasonable to expect an increase in hospitalizations and deaths in the coming months. Subvariants of Omicron are more transmissible than their predecessors, and the risk of even more tran

Indonesia predicts peak cases of COVID-19 Omicron BA.4, BA.5 in July: health minister

STORY: Indonesia predicts peak cases of COVID-19 Omicron BA.4, BA.5 in July: health minister DATELINE: June 15, 2022 LENGTH: 00:00:54 LOCATION: Jakarta CATEGORY: HEALTH SHOTLIST: 1. various of booster vaccination 2. SOUNDBITE (Bahasa Indonesia): BUDI GUNADI SADIKIN, Indonesian Health Minister (Courtesy of BPMI) STORYLINE: The Indonesian government has predicted that peak cases of COVID-19 Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 in the country will take place in July, a month after the first case was detected, based on its experience in dealing with previous waves of transmission, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said Monday. SOUNDBITE (Bahasa Indonesia): BUDI GUNADI SADIKIN, Indonesian Health Minister "Therefore, we may see the peak of the BA.4 and BA.5 cases in the second or third week of July. The peak may not be high if we are well-prepared, including with the boosters." The southeast Asian country has confirmed eight patients with these subvariants, including three imported cases. The other five were

Omicron subvariants drive spike in COVID-19 cases in New York

STORY: Omicron subvariants drive spike in COVID-19 cases in New York DATELINE: April 21, 2022 LENGTH: 00:02:04 LOCATION: NEW YORK, U.S. CATEGORY: HEALTH SHOTLIST: 1. various of press conference 2. SOUNDBITE (English): KATHY HOCHUL, New York Governor 3. various of the street view in New York City 4. various of the New York governor delivering a speech STORYLINE: New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday warned of a potential "rising tide" of COVID-19 cases, as two subvariants of Omicron are driving the current spike in infections in the state of New York. She cautioned the public about the uncertainty of subvariants during a press briefing in Syracuse. SOUNDBITE (English): KATHY HOCHUL, New York Governor "We did identify two subvariants of Omicron, which is driving the current spike in cases. But we have no evidence that this variant, these variants are more likely to have severe impacts than other subvariants. So we're not panicking about this. We're not changing, but we also want to make sure that we'